Thanks to advances of information communication technology and multimedia technology, most electronic devices such as portable terminals support a digital camera function. Recent portable terminals are equipped with a camera of the resolution substantially similar to stand-alone digital cameras. The portable terminal is under development to realize functions of the digital camera and to enhance image quality. To enhance image quality, the portable terminal evolves from the single-focus module to provide an Auto Focusing (AF) function which automatically changes the focus based on a distance to a subject and a mechanical shutter. Further, an optical zoom function is employed.
AF systems are largely divided into active systems and passive systems based on the distance measurement between the camera and the subject. The active systems measure the distance between the camera and the subject by emitting ultrasonic sound waves or infrared light and using a signal reflected by the subject. The passive systems obtain a Focus Value (FV) useful for adjusting the focus by detecting a high frequency component of an image captured by an image sensor, and moves a lens to a point of the maximum FV.
However, the related art merely allows a user to select a single focus manually to capture a single image, or allows the camera sensor to arbitrarily select multiple focuses. To shoot the image with the intended multiple focuses from a single angle, the user needs to repeat the shooting from the single fixed angle.
As discussed above, to obtain the multi-focused image from the single angle, the user needs to move the focus several times from the fixed angle.